Category: Life

I Got an Accept Decision from the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society

Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an audio engineer and music producer.

Last week, thankfully I got an acceptance from the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (JAES).

I’ve moved it to My Sent Mail folder so it doesn’t get mixed up with other emails.

Previously, I submitted my work to other journals like IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Applied Acoustics, and Signal Processing. Having gone through the process of rejection, I really appreciate this positive decision from the JAES. In fact, JAES has always been the journal I dreamed of publishing in the most, which makes this acceptance even more meaningful to me.

Initially, I was concerned that my idea was perhaps too simple, so I conducted an extensive review of existing research to see if it had already been addressed. To my surprise, I discovered that there was a lack of research specifically covering this simple approach.

Since the template was updated, I had to go through the process of rebuilding my PDF files in the editorial manager multiple times. The long list of submission records reflects the effort and patience required to get everything formatted just right.

The review process took quite a bit of time. I submitted my initial draft on December 11, received the revision decision on April 15, and finally, the acceptance on May 18. If the result had been a rejection, I would have been devastated, but given the significant workload of reviewers who dedicate their valuable time to evaluate others’ work, I was quite satisfied with this timeline.

However, as an independent researcher, I am entirely self-funded. I worked hard to condense my manuscript to stay within the 10-page limit for free publication, but I unfortunately exceeded it. Now, I have to cover the page charges myself. With the recent sharp rise in the exchange rate between the Korean won and the U.S. dollar, these additional costs have become quite a financial burden.

Despite the financial challenge, I am more than happy to pay this fee because JAES is the journal I have always aspired to publish in. Seeing my work accepted there is truly one of the most rewarding moments of my research journey.

Once my paper is officially published, I will write a follow-up post to explain the research in more detail. Stay tuned for the next update!

Life Update (Apr 30, 2026)

Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an audio engineer and music producer.

I’ve been working on so many projects lately that I haven’t been able to post any articles to this blog. Some of them are currently in progress, so I’m just writing a simple life update today.

Let’s start!

Two weeks ago, I participated in a modular synthesizer seminar as a lecturer. I was already familiar with the principles of sound synthesis, and I own a semi-modular synth and a vocoder. However, it was my first time dealing with a full modular synthesizer (Eurorack standard). So, when I was preparing the seminar materials, I studied quite hard. Of course, it takes long time.

The organizer said they would send me some photos from the event, but I haven’t received them yet. Once they arrive, I’ll share the full story in more detail.

At the same time, I received a minor revision decision on my paper from the Audio Engineering Society. I was very grateful for the decision, but unfortunately, I also caught a bad cold. Because the reviewers suggested adding some simple measurements, I pushed myself to complete them, which made my cold even worse. I ended up having to lead the modular synth seminar while feeling quite ill.

Building the audio hardware—which I designed entirely from scratch—is now almost finished. Twisting all those wires and soldering the power lines was exhausting, but it has been quite rewarding. Now, I just need to solder the switches and potentiometers, and I’ll be all done. I’m really looking forward to it.

I also submitted my new research on deep learning related to audio hardware. I’ve been preparing this paper since last May, so it has been a year-long process. Personally, I don’t feel the experimental results were groundbreaking, but I submitted it anyway in hopes that it might be helpful to other researchers. I really hope it gets accepted!

I was selected for the ‘RE:SEARCH’ grant program by the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, so I’ll be receiving some research funding. Since my proposed study includes listening tests, I’ve been busy designing the experiments, preparing documents for IRB approval, and conducting a literature review for the paper. These tasks are quite time-consuming, so I’ve been spending most of my time lately wrestling with all this writing.

The research funding will be released in May, which is also when the budget execution begins. Since the actual IRB review takes place in June, I have to submit all my documents by the end of May. The final approval usually doesn’t come out until early July, so I need to finalize the experiment design and paperwork very quickly. I think I’m going to have quite a headache dealing with all of this over the coming week.

With all these tasks piling up, I haven’t had a spare moment to focus on this blog. Once things start to wrap up—whether it’s finishing the hardware, getting my paper published, or receiving the photos from the modular synth seminar—I’ll make sure to post about them one by one.

Until then, I’ll see you in the next post!

Life Update (Mar 3, 2026)

Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an audio engineer and music producer.

This semester, I’m teaching at three different institutions: a junior college, a university, and a graduate school. Since they are located in different cities, I’ve been completely exhausted lately (I have to travel to Osan on Mondays, Daegu on Tuesdays, and Seoul on Wednesdays). Because I was preparing those class materials, my February passed in a blur.

Additionally, every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I wake up at 6 a.m. for English speaking classes, and I spend my weekends taking several courses to prepare for the TOEFL. While I feel incredibly grateful and blessed, the lack of time for my own music-making is really weighing on me…

A research paper I submitted last year is currently under review. Meanwhile, I have completed another project involving a deep learning-based hardware compressor simulation and am now conducting listening experiments with participants. Tomorrow, I’ll meet last two subjects, and finally, it will be done. However, I’ve got to interpret the result and discuss what those things mean. It must take few days..

I chose a “TAKACHI” rack case to house my DIY audio hardware circuit and had an in-depth conversation with the manager. I really appreciate him. However, the enclosure was quite expensive due to the machining (drilling) process. I’ll talk all about that in another post.

Yap.. That’s all..! Quite simple, isn’t it? There was nothing interesting in my recent life. I must rest right now. Writing also makes me exhausted. See you in the next post..!

At the In Blue Exhibition: Ingeun Nam x Chungha Lim

Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer. It has already been 9 days since I wrote my last post!

Recently, I’ve been busy applying for adjunct faculty positions and have heard back from a few universities. I’ve been meeting with department heads to discuss teaching strategies, and now I need to put together several syllabi.

While I’m truly grateful for these opportunities, I’ve been feeling a bit exhausted lately. I’ll save the stories about circuit diagrams and designs for my next post; for today, I’ll just share a brief account of a recent exhibition I visited.

About two weeks ago, I attended an exhibition that featured a performance and a drawing session, and by chance, I met the artist Chungha Ester Lim. She also has another job as a residential interior designer, which impressed me quite a lot.

She introduced me to her free two-person exhibition, In Blue, which ran from January 23 to February 26. I went there last Saturday, and I thought the work was quite good. Not only the drawings but also the photos, which were created by another artist, Ingeun Nam, the photographer.

Black Church – Ingeun Nam

The most impressive photo was the one above. I was amazed to find out this wasn’t a painting, but a photograph. The photographer used a special textured paper to achieve that amazing painterly effect.

North Nights – Ingeun Nam

This piece was amazing, but my photography skills let me down—I couldn’t fit the whole frame into the shot.

We Will Try to Keep It Down – Chungha Ester Lim

This is one of Chungha Lim’s works. Seeing it made me realize how much I should reflect on my own attitude toward making work—the level of dedication and seriousness behind it was truly something to learn from.

I don’t remember if it was this exact piece, but she mentioned that some of her works required more than fifty layers of paint and took a year and a half to complete. I often tell myself that working in music and audio is a kind of personal discipline, but hearing that made me pause and rethink my own mindset.

Knowing how much care and time went into this piece, I honestly felt quite bad for having taken such a crooked photo…

Interestingly, Chungha Ester Lim said that she visualizes an imaginary exhibition space or structure in her mind and then translates that vision into her paintings. She explained that the work shown above was created by imagining how that space would appear when viewed from a specific position.

A lemon tart and a chocolate mousse brownie — Very Sweet

She offered me a lemon tart and a chocolate mousse brownie. I heard that her friend baked them, so I assume they were a special treat for that day’s visitors. They were amazing, but likely a one-time thing you won’t usually find there!

There weren’t many pieces on display, but that actually made it easier to focus on each one. For that reason, I’d recommend seeing the other works in person rather than through photos. If you’re near Gangnam or happen to have the chance, I highly recommend visiting this quiet space, Jibokdeukmaru (2F, 25 Eonju-ro 133-gil, Gangnam District, Seoul).

The exhibition is open until 4 PM on Saturdays, and in the afternoon, Chungha Lim is usually present at the space. If you have the chance, I’d highly recommend listening to her explain the works in person—it adds a lot to the experience. If you’re curious to see more of the artists’ works, I’ll leave the links to their websites below, so feel free to check them out.

Chungha Ester Lim’s hompage: https://cargocollective.com/coonga

Inguen Nam’s Homepage: https://namingeun.com/

That’s it for today. I’ll be back with more stories about circuit designs soon. See you then!